SINAC
Isla del Coco is one of the greatest Costa Rican treasures and it always surprises visitors. Now, this natural paradise gifted scientists with new information that lead them to discover a new kind of plant.
The finding was published in the scientific journal Botanical Research Institute of Texas. The National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC) explained that it is a new species of plant genus called Tachia.
Botanists from the National Herbarium of Costa Rica of the Department of Natural History of the National Museum of Costa Rica and the park ranger Guillermo Blanco from the Isla del Coco National Park made the discovery north of Cape Dampier, a row that leads to Cerro Las Madres.
The researchers who published the discovery are Joaquín Sánchez González and Alexander Rodríguez from the National Herbarium of Costa Rica, which belongs to the National Museum.
The new endemic species (only in the island) of the Tachia genus received the scientific name of Tachia Blancoi in recognition of the park ranger Guillermo Blanco Segura, who collaborated in the discovery.
Tachia is a genus that is characterized by being composed of small bushes, or sometimes lianas or herbs. SINAC explained that in Coco Island, fertile specimens of a new species of this genus were collected with very distinctive characteristics that allow to separate it from the already known species of the continental part of America.